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Mangroves are also useful for flood control and storm protection. At the Tolomato Matanzas Research Reserve, mangroves create a flood barrier during storms, thereby protecting trees. Mangroves also produce soil, which helps maintain the height of the coastline.[46]

Economically destructive red tides are expected to continue as a result of pollution and warming water.[11]

Impact on human health

Florida and the U.S. Southeast region face many health-related threats due to tropical storms, sea level rise, extreme heat, and drought.[47]

Flooding and Tropical Cyclones

Florida is a low-lying state and is estimated to be the state in the U.S. with the largest population and proportion of population living in the low-elevation coastal zone.[48] Sea level rise threatens to increase flooding. Of an estimated 590,000 people in South Florida vulnerable to sea level rise, it is estimated that 125,000 are socially vulnerable and 55,000 are medically vulnerable.[49]

Tropical cyclones like hurricanes can threaten health in a variety of ways: flooding, strong winds, hazards in the recovery period after a storm, evacuation and displacement, and mental health impacts.

In the United States, drowning is the leading cause of flooding-related death, particularly due to powerful storm surges.[50] Storms can directly threaten lives and also cause power outages due to winds and/or flooding. In Florida, power outages after Hurricane Irma were associated with higher mortality in nursing home residents.[51]

Evacuation and displacement due to a storm can impact health. During the evacuation process, people can lose or forget medication and devices such as hearing aids or dentures and may have difficulty filling prescriptions.[52]

Recovery after a major storm can involve heavy construction and exposure to hazardous materials in floodwaters such as sewage, chemicals, and sharp or broken objects.[53] Dampness after flooding can facilitate mold growth, which is common after flooding in Florida; Florida's hot and humid climate creates favorable conditions for mold growth even in the absence of flooding.[54]

Compared to less developed areas of the world, threats of infectious, respiratory, and diarrheal diseases are low in high income/ developed countries like the U.S. but are more prevalent following flooding events.[50]

Longer-term health impacts include impacts on mental health and pregnancy outcomes. Flooding puts people at higher risk of mental health challenges such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression.[55] A study of Hurricane Charley in Florida found that exposure to higher wind speeds increased risk of preterm birth.[56]

Extreme Heat

The impacts on health of climate change fueled extreme heat are anticipated to be minimal due to Florida's already warm climate that means that much of the population is acclimatized, or adjusted, to heat and most buildings have air conditioning installed.[57] However, extreme heat may still be a threat to older adults, homeless populations, and people who spend time outdoors such as workers in industries such as agriculture and tourism, as well as tourists themselves.[57][58] In summer 2023, Orlando, which contains theme parks such as Disney World, saw its first-ever heat warning from the National Weather Service and saw spikes in heat-related distress calls, more than double than the number five years prior.[59]

Wildfires

While Florida doesn’t make headlines for wildfires as much as other U.S. states like California and Colorado, it too is vulnerable to wildfires, which can have many health impacts, such as on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.[60] Florida wildfires are most frequent under hot and dry conditions and many fires in the state are prescribed burns or are sparked by military activities.[49] Conditions of future drought and temperature rise may increase wildfire potential in the state.[49]

Mosquito-borne diseases

A closeup of a black and white Aedes aegypti mosquito on a green leaf

An Aedes aegypti mosquito on a leaf. CC BY-SA 4.0 by Wee Hong

Southern Florida already has a high suitability for mosquito-borne diseases because it is habitable for Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that carry viruses like those that cause Zika, dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever.[49] Future climate change projections predict that much of the Southeastern U.S. will be vulnerable to mosquito-borne diseases, particularly southern Florida which may become suitable to year-round disease transmission.[49]

Population Vulnerability

A considerable proportion of Florida’s population has characteristics that may make them more vulnerable to health impacts or that may pose barriers to accessing healthcare; approximately 21.6% of Florida's population is over the age of 65, 21.0% are foreign born, 12.7% live below the federal poverty level, and approximately 13.9% of the population does not have health insurance.[61]

Impact of climate change on real estate in coastal areas

color-coded shaded relief map generated with data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. For the view on the right, elevations below 5 meters (16 feet) above sea level have been colored dark blue, and lighter blue indicates elevations below 10 meters (33 feet).

Sign thanking linemen and first responders after Hurricane Michael, Chattahoochee 2019

In 2017, the real estate website Zillow wrote that if climate predictions were correct, by 2100 "One in eight Florida homes would be under water, accounting for nearly half of the lost housing value nationwide." This calculation was based on comparing NOAA maps for a 6-foot sea level rise with the Zillow database of homes.[62]

Real estate website Curbed has presented a table with impacted cities in Florida, homes at risk, and dollar estimates. Curbed has estimated that "Roughly 64,000 homes—including 12,000 in Miami Beach, a nexus of real estate investment—will face chronic flooding," and has described how changes are needed in National Flood Insurance Program.[63] AP cites data from climate risk analytics firm Jupiter Intelligence indicating that "extreme flooding could go from affecting 5% to 86% of Miami-Dade's residential real estate supply by 2030."[64]

A 2018 report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, titled: Underwater: Rising Seas, Chronic Floods, and the Implications for US Coastal Real Estate stated that Florida is the state with the most homes at risk from climate change: "about 1 million homes (more than 10% of the state's current residential properties)."[65]

Officials in the Florida Keys found that it would take 75 million dollars to save three miles of road serving about two dozen homes. A December 2019 New York Times article describing the decisions facing Monroe County was titled, "Florida Keys Deliver a Hard Message: As Seas Rise, Some Places Can't Be Saved."[66] Some small islands in the Keys may disappear altogether.[67]

Climate gentrification is increasing real estate values in parts of Miami that are at higher elevation, and decreasing values in lower-elevation areas.[68] By 2017, two poor black neighborhoods of Miami which are located on higher ground, Little Haiti and Liberty City, started becoming more attractive to investors.[69][68][70] Home prices appreciated more slowly in 2018 in Miami Beach and lower-lying areas of Miami-Dade County.[71]

One flood assessment company describes the South Florida housing market as being kept afloat by "systemic fraudulent nondisclosure" of flood risks to property.[72][73] A bill passed by the US House of Representatives to require real estate agents to disclose flood risks had not made it through the Senate as of February 2019.[72]

Climate change education

Flooding evacuation, Melbourne

Florida's climate change education standard states: "Identify, analyze, and relate the internal (earth system) and external (astronomical) conditions that contribute to global climate change." The standard falls short of the Next Generation Science Standards, which have been adopted by 20 states and the District of Columbia. The human-caused elements of climate change and role of human activity are treated "as an aside," according to a leader with the Alliance for Climate Education.[74]

Local climate mitigation efforts

Miami-Dade County has built seawalls,[75] implemented an Urban CO2 Reduction Plan,[76] and participates in the South Florida Regional Climate Compact.[77] Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has pledged to make the city carbon neutral by 2050.[41]

Pensacola has formed a Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Task Force which meets monthly.[78][79][80]

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer was "one of the nation's first mayors to sign onto the Climate Mayors' Pledge." Orlando plans to convert its city vehicle fleet to alternative fuels by 2030.[81]

Sarasota's Climate Adaption and Mitigation Center has been funded to work on "a curated database of peer-reviewed science to inform decision-making in academia, government and the private sector."[82]

In North Central Florida, where climate change denial is stronger, climate change efforts were starting to be visible in 2020 in Gainesville, Alachua County, St. Augustine and Jacksonville.[83]

In Broward County's Oakland Park, drainage installed with a FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant prevented damage to 400 homes during Hurricane Irma.[84]

Coral Gables Mayor Jim Cason has said, "We're working hard to create solutions until we inevitably must retreat."[85]

South Florida climate adaptation strategies

Climate journalism

The South Florida Sun Sentinel, Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, along with WLRN Public Media, have formed a collaboration to cover climate change issues. The collaboration provides news and feature coverage, and a website created by its editorial boards titled: The Invading Sea, Florida and the Climate Crisis.[86][87]

Southeast Florida Regional Climate Compact

The Southeast Florida Regional Climate Compact is a partnership between Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Palm Beach Counties. Its goal is "to work collaboratively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, implement adaptation strategies, and build climate resilience."[77]

Integrative Collaborative on Climate and Energy (ICCE)

The Florida Center for Environmental Studies at Florida Atlantic University has formed an Integrative Collaborative on Climate and Energy (ICCE) focused on issues of climate adaptation in Florida's urban and natural systems. Partners include the Florida Climate Initiative, the University of South Florida, and various government agencies.[88]

Miami-Dade County Climate Programs

Miami has been described as "ground zero" for climate change and sea level rise."[89] The Miami-Dade County Office of Resilience has implemented climate programs and a Climate Action Plan,[90][91] and there is a Sea Level Rise Committee.[92] Protecting the water supply and the Biscayne Aquifer is a priority.[23][24][25]

The South Florida rocklands ecoregion, in the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome, occurs in southern Florida and the Florida Keys in the United States, where they would naturally cover an area of 2,100 km2 (810 sq mi). These forests form on limestone outcrops with very thin soil;[2] the higher elevation separating them from other habitats such as coastal marshes and marl prairies.[3] On mainland Florida, rocklands exist primarily on the Miami Rock Ridge, which extends from the Miami River south to Everglades National Park. South Florida rocklands are further divided into pine rocklands and rockland hammocks.[2]

Pine rockland

Description

The pine rocklands are a critically imperiled ecosystem located in southern Florida, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Cuba. Its location in south Florida and throughout the Caribbean Archipelago straddles the southern and northern ends of the temperate and tropical flora ranges, respectively.[4] This helps explain why the pine rocklands are home to a wide variety of plants and animals, many of which are endemic to Florida, south Florida, or the pine rockland itself.[5] It is characterized by an open canopy of South Florida slash pine (Pinus elliotti var. densa), a patchy subcanopy of palms and shrubs, and an extremely diverse herbaceous layer, growing atop Miami oolitic limestone.[5] Historically, the landscape was maintained by frequent low-intensity fires, but urbanization, agricultural expansion, exotic invasion and fragmentation have led to fire suppression and severe changes in plant community composition.[6]

Distribution

In south Florida, pine rocklands occur in Miami-Dade County, Monroe County, the Lower Keys, Everglades National Park, and Big Cypress National Preserve, but can also be found throughout the Caribbean Archipelago. Despite its range, the pine rocklands are limited in distribution.[4] Urban development, agricultural expansion, and extreme fragmentation since the late 1800s have severely reduced the extent of its range. Of the original estimated 65,450 ha of Miami-Dade County pine rockland, around 920 ha, or 2%, remain outside of Everglades National Park.[7] The remaining fragments scattered across the county are protected as public parks or Environmentally Endangered Lands and range in size from 0.1 ha to 324 ha, with the average size being 6 ha and the median being 1.7 ha.[8] The Long Pine Key portion in Everglades National Park still holds around 9915 ha, or 80% of all pine rockland found in Florida.[7] Limited reserves found in the Lower Keys are decreasing due to fire suppression and salt-water intrusion via rising sea levels.[9]

Physiography

The pine rocklands in Miami-Dade County and Everglades National Park are found on limestone substrates along the Miami Rock Ridge, an exposed oolitic limestone matrix 2–7 meters above sea level that extends from northern Miami to the southern Everglades with disjunct sections in the Lower Keys.[4] This limestone is extremely sharp, porous, and prone to weathering and dissolution and which help form their characteristic solution holes. These holes can house water, sand, or organic soil, and contribute to small changes in elevation that result in substantial changes in vegetation. Interlaced with the limestone ridge are lower elevation wet prairies and marshes and higher elevation rock hammocks.[5][7] These wet prairies and marshes create an island-like effect isolating the higher elevated pine rocklands.

This interaction between elevation and water is particularly evident in Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park. Sections of Long Pine Key flood anywhere from 20 to 60 days per year.[10] However, the hydrology of south Florida has changed drastically since the 1950s due to urban expansion and increased agricultural practices. The limestone of the Miami Rock Ridge was perfect for development, and subsequent drainage has led to a significant decrease in the water table.[11] A lowered water table may harm sites prone to seasonal flooding and may increase the risk of salt-water intrusion. The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan is an attempt to restore the hydrology of the Everglades.[12]